The Lord’s Focus Turns to 4 II. Prophetic—The Lord and the Faithless Nation Israel, (Hosea 4–14) A. Israel Plays the Harlot, (Hosea 4–5) 1. Israel rejects their knowledge of God (Hosea 4:1-11) a. The Mistake (Hosea 4:2) b. The Mourning (Hosea 4:3) c. The Massacre (Hosea 4:4- 1) Of Religion 2) Of Knowledge 3) Of Heart 2. Israel’s Idolatry (Hosea 4:12-19) a. Israel’s willing Choice (Hosea 4:12-13a) b. The Fallout of those choices (Hosea 4:13b-16) 16 For Israel slideth back as a backsliding heifer: now the LORD will feed them as a lamb in a large place. c. Total rejection yielded total rejection from God (Hosea 4:17-19) 17 Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone. Genesis 6:3 3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years

3. God Judges Israel (:1-14) a. Who God is Against or Responsible Parties - Religious Leaders, Populous, and Government 1 Hear ye this, O priests; and hearken, ye house of Israel; and give ye ear, O house of the king; for judgment is toward you, because ye have been a snare on Mizpah(watchtower), and a net spread upon Tabor(mound). 2 And the revolters(rebel) are profound(to make deep) to make slaughter(kill, death), though I have been a rebuker(discipline) of them all.

b. The Nation as a whole 1. The nation is defiled 3 I know Ephraim(double ash heap), and Israel is not hid from me: for now, O Ephraim, thou committest whoredom, and Israel is defiled.

Another meaning for Ephraim = I shall be doubly fruitful Genesis 48:19-20 19 And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it: he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations. 20 And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim before Manasseh. Ephraim • The Leader of Israel after Moses, Joshua was an Ephraimite • The first king of the northern kingdom Jereboam was an Ephraimite, • The accents of the tribes were distinctive enough even at the time of the confederacy so that when the Israelites of Gilead, under the leadership of Jephthah, fought the Tribe of Ephraim, their pronunciation of “shibboleth” as sibboleth was considered sufficient evidence to single out individuals from Ephraim, so that they could be subjected to immediate death by the Israelites of Gilead. • Ephraim battles Jephthah and the Gileadites Judges 12:1-6 1 And the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together, and went northward, and said unto Jephthah, Wherefore passedst thou over to fight against the children of Ammon, and didst not call us to go with thee? we will burn thine house upon thee with fire. 2 And Jephthah said unto them, I and my people were at great strife with the children of Ammon; and when I called you, ye delivered me not out of their hands. 3 And when I saw that ye delivered me not, I put my life in my hands, and passed over against the children of Ammon, and the LORD delivered them into my hand: wherefore then are ye come up unto me this day, to fight against me? 4 Then Jephthah gathered together all the men of Gilead, and fought with Ephraim: and the men of Gilead smote Ephraim, because they said, Ye Gileadites are fugitives of Ephraim among the Ephraimites, and among the Manassites. 5 And the Gileadites took the passages of Jordan before the Ephraimites: and it was so, that when those Ephraimites which were escaped said, Let me go over; that the men of Gilead said unto him, Art thou an Ephraimite? If he said, Nay; 6 Then said they unto him, Say now Shibboleth: and he said Sibboleth: for he could not frame to pronounce it right. Then they took him, and slew him at the passages of Jordan: and there fell at that time of the Ephraimites forty and two thousand.

• Ephraim was a member of the Northern Kingdom until the kingdom was conquered by in c. 723 BC • Ephraim is often seen as the tribe that represents the entire Northern Kingdom of Israel • Judah is the tribe that represents the or the Southern Kingdom Interesting passage… Psalms 78:66-68 66 And he smote his enemies in the hinder parts: he put them to a perpetual reproach. 67 Moreover he refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim: 68 But chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved.

2. They don’t know the Lord 4 They will not frame their doings to turn unto their God: for the spirit of whoredoms is in the midst of them, and they have not known the LORD.

3. They took someone with them 5 And the pride of Israel doth testify to his face: therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity; Judah also shall fall with them.

4. The Lord will withdraw Himself 6 They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the LORD; but they shall not find him; he hath withdrawn(take away) himself from them. 7 They have dealt treacherously (deceitfully) against the LORD: for they have begotten strange children: now shall a month devour them with their portions.

5. Warning the end is near 8 Blow ye the cornet in Gibeah, and the trumpet in Ramah: cry aloud at Bethaven, after thee, O . 9 Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke: among the tribes of Israel have I made known that which shall surely be. 10 The princes of Judah were like them that remove the bound: therefore I will pour out my wrath upon them like water. 11 Ephraim is oppressed(exploited) and broken(crushed) in judgment, because he willingly walked after the commandment.

6. The Lord will rot them 12 Therefore will I be unto Ephraim as a moth, and to the house of Judah as rottenness(decay). 13 When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw his wound, then went Ephraim to the Assyrian, and sent to king Jareb: yet could he not heal you, nor cure you of your wound. 14 For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah: I, even I, will tear and go away; I will take away, and none shall rescue him.

B. Israel (Ephraim) Will Return in the Last Days (Hosea 5:15- 6:3)

15 I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early.

Hosea 6:1-3 1 Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. 2 After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. 3 Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.

C. Israel (Ephraim) Could Escape Judgment (–12) 1. Israel Turns to Egypt and Assyria, (Hosea 7) 2. Israel Turns to Golden Calves and Altars of Sin, () 3. Israel Turns to Land Productivity; Will Be Driven from Land, (–10) 4. Israel Turns from God—Must Be Judged; BUT God Will Not Give Up on Her, (–12)